A MEDICAL emergency halted an annual cycling festival which ran past Braintree.

Ride London, a charity bike ride which features 25,000 cyclists, sees participants start the course in central London before cycling to Dunmow Road in Braintree, and then loop back to central London.

But the 100-mile route was halted abruptly at Stebbing Green, eight miles west of Braintree, when a cyclist required treatment 49 miles in.

The ride was stopped for about 30 minutes at around 9.20am on Sunday morning whilst the air ambulance attended.

Emergency services then took the cyclist to hospital by road.

The official Ride London Twitter account announced the ride restarted at 9.52am.

Roads were closed for the duration of the race, with the B1256 and B1417 cordoned off on Saturday and Sunday so riders could participate safely.

An update has not yet been provided regarding the condition of the rider taken to hospital.